Pantone's 2018 Color of the Year Is Ultra Violet

Every year the color experts at Pantone scour the globe to find out what colors people are gravitating to, and for 2018 it'll be ultra violet, a bright, vibrant purple.

If you think it's just a gimmick, consider this: According to The New York Times, Pantone employs about 10 people to travel to the far reaches of the earth and see what's trending in everything from cosmetics to cars and more so that each December they can declare the "it" color for the upcoming year.

“It’s truly a reflection of what’s needed in our world today,” Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, explained to the Times. The color “communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking,” Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, added. “It’s also the most complex of all colors because it takes two shades that are seemingly diametrically opposed—blue and red—and brings them together to create something new.”

The company even noted that pop culture has loved this specific shade of purple for decades, sighting musical icons David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, and of course Prince as inspiration. Beyond music, Pantone also revealed that the stars, planets, and heavens above were another point of the inspiration behind the choice.

Indeed, with this color the people of Pantone want you to feel inspired to contemplate your surroundings and think of the "mysteries of the cosmos, the intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now." They want you to think of the "vast and limitless night sky" and see ultra violet purple as a symbol of "what is possible and continues to inspire the desire to pursue a world beyond our own."